Read More

Giving the keynote speech at a session on PR and marketing at The Studio in Glasgow, he highlighted a gap between key business concerns and what they were doing in marketing.

“Business leaders are worrying about how to sell more of their products or services. And about how to get more of their staff to buy in to what they are trying to do.

“Too often their marketing activity is really tangential to these concerns.”

And he said dealing with the company’s website or social media was often given to a recent graduate or a millennial who was in a junior role in the business

“Good marketing is fundamental to the growth of most businesses,” he said.

But he added that too often that was not realised or was demonstrated in what business actually do in terms of their marketing.

He said other things he saw regularly was that there was no effective measurement of what marketing activity was achieving.

He told the conference delegates at The Studio in Glasgow City Centre that it needed to be part of an overall review of the performance and effectiveness of the business.

“We can get eyeballs and attention to your business but that’s not really going to work if your products are poor or your pricing is wrong.”

Panel member Allister Frost, the former head of digital marketing at Microsoft said SMEs should focus on a small amount of high quality marketing activity.

“If you’re going to do anything in marketing you have to focus on one activity and do it well. Mediocre activity will not cut through.”

Colin Borland of the FSB said that SMEs should avoid the temptation to do PR campaigns that were crass on the back of major news events such as this week’s Royal engagement announcement. Solicitors form should for example not do campaigns offering discounts on prenuptial agreements.

“If you are the business leader you need to be open to people coming to you and saying ‘sorry that’s not going to work.’

“It could be a bit of insubordination that saves your business.”

Earlier Insider editor Ken Symon opened the inaugural conference by issuing a "very warm welcome to the first of what will become a regular event in the Insider calendar".

He added: "I would like to say a big thank you for coming along to what promises to be quite a day.

"SMEs are the life blood of the Scottish economy and the wider UK economy. Growth in the economy will come from growth in small and medium-sized businesses all over Scotland.

And the focus today is on growth and in particular on four key areas that we can work on to deliver growth.

"We shall look at how to lead your team, at the part that PR and marketing can play in making your business stand out, how to fund your growth and the technology that will impact your business now and in the future."